All children of wrath In bondage
and sin We helplessly lay Condemned and unclean God's law in its
infinite justice and wrath Demanded we suffer an eternal death But
long before time had ever begun One stood in our place, God's
glorious Son He offered Himself to go live among men, And give
His own life to atone for our sin. The Great Substitute, behold,
He has come, ? The price has been paid, the work is all done
? Christ took on himself the great load of our sin ? He poured
out his blood and he put away sin ? God's justice and law are
now satisfied All who believe have been justified. Through faith in the blood of
the Lamb, we are free from sin's condemnation, eternally free. May we sing it. Good morning. That's the gospel. Are we just
saying? Laws been satisfied, sins been
put away. Bloods been shed. God's pleased. God's people are justified. What
great hope we have. God said where the Spirit of
God is, there is liberty and our hope this morning is that
He will send His Spirit in power and give us that freedom we just
sang about. I'm gonna ask you, if you will,
to turn in your Bibles to Zechariah chapter 10, Zechariah chapter
10. I've titled this message, Looking
to Christ for Everything. Looking to Christ for everything. Let's go before the Lord and
ask his blessings. Our merciful heavenly father,
we come to thy throne of grace, pleading the name and the blood
of thy dear son for all our acceptance and all our righteousness. Lord,
we thank you for the promise that you've given to your church
that where two or three are gathered together in thy name, there you
are in the midst of them. Our heavenly father, we pray
that for Christ's sake that you would be pleased now in this
hour to reveal to our hearts the glory of thy son. We pray
that you would be pleased to gift us with grace to cast all
our care upon him, to find all our salvation, and all our hope
in his glorious person and in his accomplished work. We thank
you for your word. Lord, we know that it is a two-edged
sword and we pray that it would wound and that it was healed. And we ask, Lord, that you would
give us ears to hear, that you would give us faith to to believe. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Looking to Christ for everything. You have your Bibles open to
Zechariah chapter 10. We looked at verse one last Sunday. I'll just read it. Ask ye of
the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. So the Lord
shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to
every one grass in the field. That's what we've just done.
We've asked for God to open the windows of heaven and shower
us with his grace and with his favor and to reveal to us the
glory of a son. And here's this promise. He said,
ask a brain. And I'll give it, I'll give it. Four, verse two. The idols have spoken vanity
and the diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams they
comfort in vain. Therefore they went their way
as a flock. They were troubled because there
was no shepherd. Ever since the fall, Satan has
been counterfeiting the truth. And, uh, he's been sending false
prophets and diviners as the scripture says. Um, and, um,
turn with me to, um, Psalm, Psalm 115, Psalm 115. The Lord tells us that we're
to try the spirits to see whether they be of God. There's always been soothsayers. There's always been diviners,
dreamers, and enchanters. And here's what the Lord has
to say about the idols that they preach. Verse one of Psalm 115,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God, our God is in the
heavens and he hath done whatsoever he has pleased. Notice the verb
tense. Everything that happens in time,
God has already ordained and purposed in eternity. Our God
is absolutely sovereign. Our God is absolutely omnipotent
and he always has his way and his will. Their idols, on the
other hand, as we just read about in Zechariah chapter 10, their
idols are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. What a contrast. We have an omnipotent,
sovereign, immutable God who is in the heavens reigning over
the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth.
And what do they have? They have the works of their
own hands. They have an idol that's been
fashioned out of silver and out of gold. Look what the Lord says
about those idols. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they
through their throat. Why? Because they're just idols. 1 Corinthians chapter 8, the Lord
is talking to the church about eating meat that's been offered
to idols. And he says, we know that idols are nothing. Idols
are nothing. They are nothing more than the
figment of men's imaginations. They are fashioned in the factory
of their own darkened minds. And they have no power. They
make them look, well, look what he says next. Verse 8, they that make them
are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. Now, idolatry has been practiced
from the beginning. And the Lord is saying to us,
you have a God that is not just the imagination of man. He is
God indeed. He is God indeed. Go back with
me to our text. Their idols have spoken vanity. Turn over to Zechariah chapter
13 and look at verse one. In that day, there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Now, one thing an
idol cannot do, an idol can't save. An idol can't satisfy the
demands of God's holy justice. An idol can't present righteousness
that's acceptable to God. And the Lord's telling us in
that day, in the day that Messiah comes, a fountain's going to
be opened. and it will be for uncleanness, and it will be for
sin. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the
land, and they shall no more be remembered. When the Lord is pleased to make
himself known to the hearts of his people in the gospel of his
free and sovereign grace accomplished in the perfect work of Christ,
they are done with their idols. They cannot go back. The Lord
takes those false gods away from them. They see the futility of
man-made religion and they realize that there's no hope of salvation
in a god that's been fashioned in the imagination of a man.
And that's what the Lord's saying here. They cannot go back. They will not go back. Go back with me to to Zechariah
chapter 10. I tell you what, let's turn to
Jeremiah chapter 27. Jeremiah chapter 27. Verse 9,
God speaking to his church. speaking to you, he's speaking
to me. And he says to us, therefore hearken not ye to your prophets,
nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters,
nor to your soothsayers, which speak unto you, saying, You shall
not serve the king of Babylon." Now God had already declared
through His prophet that the people were going to be carried
off into Babylon. And the false prophets were saying to the children
of Israel, peace, peace, don't worry about that. It's not going
to happen. It's not going to happen. Turn with me back to
Jeremiah chapter 14. Verse 13, then said I, ah, Lord
God, behold, the prophets say unto them, you shall not see
the sword, neither shall ye have famine, but I will give you assured
peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, the
prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither spake unto them, they prophesy
unto you a false vision, and divination, and a thing of naught,
and the deceit of their heart." So, the Lord say, in these idols
that are being declared by the prophets, I'm gonna take them
away from you. You're not gonna listen to the
false prophets who say, peace, peace, when there is no peace.
I'm going to give you an ear to hear the Word of God, and
you're going to believe me. You're going to trust Christ
for all the hope of your salvation. Those who say that you can do
something in order to secure the hope of your salvation, you're
not going to believe them. You're not going to believe them.
You're going to cast all the hope of your salvation on the
glorious person and finished work. of my dear son, and the
idols, the idols fashioned by man, the idols that cannot save,
I'm going to take them away. I'm going to take them away.
There's your hope. Now, the soothsayers, the diviners,
the dreamers, the enchanters, you don't have to go far to find
them. They're not the practicers of
black magic that you might find in a place like Casadega. They're behind the pulpits of
churches. The scripture says that these
false prophets are angels of light, that they are ministers
of righteousness. They present themselves as spokesmen
for God, but in fact, they are telling lies. How do we know
if a message is true or if it's not true? How do we know? Well, there's one simple question,
isn't there? What sayeth the scriptures? What does God's word
say about those who would tell you, peace, peace, when there
is no peace? What does scripture say about
those who would say God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody,
God wants to save everybody, and he's done everything he can,
and now it's up to you to finish the work. What does the scripture
say about that? Well, you know what it says.
You know what it says. You won't go back to that. You're
not going to find any hope of salvation in a message of salvation
that depends upon you to do something in order to make what God did
work for you. You found your peace, your hope,
and all of your comfort and all of your forgiveness in the accomplished
work of Christ. The Lord is contrasting their
false prophets to the truth of the gospel. You'll be there in
Zechariah chapter 10 My anger was kindled against
the shepherds. And I punished the goats for
the Lord of hosts had visited his flock, the house of Judah,
and have made them as his goodly horse in the battle. And that's
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. We
don't want to be a part of anything that God says I have punished. I want to be where the Lord has
promised to give liberty and hope and light and salvation,
where He's promised to open the windows of heaven and reign the
truth of His gospel in Christ on His people. And the next verse
tells us how He's done that. Now notice in verse 3, that he
has visited the flock of the house of Judah. He has promised
to visit Judah, to visit his church. And in verse 4, the Lord
tells us, out of him, now that's speaking of Judah, out of Judah
came forth the corner. The corner is a reference to
Christ. He's the cornerstone. The stone which the builders
rejected, God has made the head of the corner. Christ is that
rock upon which he builds his church. And that rock doesn't
come out of a false gospel. It comes out of Judah. It comes
out of the place where Christ is lifted up and where Christ
is given all the glory for the salvation of his people. And
so he says, out of Judah came the corner. It's the same rock. It's the
same rock that followed the children of Israel through the wilderness.
They would have died in the wilderness without water. And the Lord pointed
out a rock to Moses and told Moses, you take the rod and you
smite the rock. And Moses smote the rock with
a rod of justice. That was the Moses picture of
the law of God. And that's the reason why Moses
didn't come into the promised land. Joshua had to lead the
children of Israel across the Jordan into the promised land.
The law can't save. The law is what smote the rock
and the rod of God's justice is what smote the Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary's cross. When God saw our sin on his son,
he had no choice but to pierce him with the sword of his wrath
and the sword of his justice. And what came out of that rock?
What came out of that rock? Rivers of living water. That's
what the Lord said to the woman at the well. Oh, if you knew
who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, you would ask
of him. You would ask of him and he would give you living
water. Now, after Moses smote the rock one time and water came
forth out of the rock. They went to another place. The
rock's there. The scripture says the rock followed
them through the wilderness. I don't know how that happened,
but I believe it. They woke up, same rock, there it is. There
it is. And the people were murmuring
and threatening Moses, and Moses in anger smote the rock again. And the Lord told Moses clearly,
he said, you only smite the rock one time. After that, you speak to the
rock, and the rock will bring forth water. You see, Christ
has been smitten by the law of God's wrath. law of God's justice,
to satisfy God's wrath. And now we speak to the rock.
This is the corner. This is the foundation upon which
the church is built. This is what makes the difference
between the false gospel and the idols of man-made religion
and the truth of the gospel. Out of Judah came the corner. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse
4, he is the rock. He is the rock. His work is perfect
and all his ways are judgment. Christ is that rock. Upon this
rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not be
able to prevail against it. All the justice and judgment
of God was satisfied in Christ. He is the rock and all his work
is perfect. It's finished. It's finished. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
it is finished, it's finished. There's nothing for you to add
to it. And you certainly cannot take away from it. Listen to
what the scripture says about their rock, that idol, for their
rock is not as our rock, even as our enemies themselves judge. Now what does that mean? Their
rock is not like our rock, even as our enemies themselves judge. Well, all you have to do is listen
to what they say about our rock. By your words you shall be justified
and by your words you shall be condemned. A good tree cannot
bring forth bad fruit. A bad tree cannot bring forth
good fruit. That's the fruit of their lips. They judge for
themselves the difference between their rock and our rock. Not
only do we listen to what they say in judgment about the rock,
about our rock, but listen to what they say about their rock.
What do they say about their rock? Yes, listen, he's not able
to say by himself. He can't get it. His work is
not perfect. His work is incomplete. He still,
he wants to save everybody doing his best to get it done, but
he can't, he can't accomplish. It's just their rock is not like
our rock. as the enemies of God themselves
give judgment. All you have to do is listen
to what they say. Tell men about the sovereign,
electing, successful grace of God in the finished work of redemption,
what do they say? Well, my God's not like that.
Well, yeah, of course he's not. Of course he's not. You give
him judgment yourselves by your own words that you'll rock. He's
not like our rock. It's a different God. Different
God. One is an idol fashioned by the
hands of men and his only existence is in their own imagination. is the God of glory whose work
is perfect. His work is perfect, brother.
When he said, I put away your sin, he perfectly put them away.
When he said, I'm going to establish a righteousness before God, he
perfectly established that righteousness. When was I rock laid? before
the foundation of the world. Oh, before sin ever entered into
the picture, God had already provided a remedy for sin. Christ had already been slain
in the covenant of God's grace. The purpose of redemption had
already been accomplished in the ordained will of God. Our rock's not like their rock.
Out of her, out of Judah comes the corner. Go back with me to verse four. Out of him, again,
that's a reference to Judah. It's being spoken of in the previous
verse. Out of him comes the nail, the nail. Isaiah refers to it
as a nail that is fastened in a sure place, a sure place. Now, what a picture, what a picture. You know, you've had the experience
of trying to hang something heavy on the wall and you can't find
a stud where you need it to be and you put a nail in the drywall
and it eventually pulls out, doesn't it? And then you find
that stud and you drive a 16 penny nail in that stud and you
say to your wife, honey, you can hang anything you want on
that nail, it's not going anywhere. It'll hold whatever you put on
it, okay? The Lord Jesus Christ has come
out of Judah and he is the nail that is fashioned in a sure place. And you can hang the full weight
of your sinful self on that nail and he'll hold you. He'll hold
you. He's put away the sins of his
people. When they drove those nails through
his hands and through his feet, His wounds give picture of what
we needed. We needed the works of our hands
to be redeemed. We needed the steps of our feet
to be justified. And he did it. He did it. When
those nails, he's the nail. And the nail comes out of Judah.
The nail's not gonna come out from the false prophets. You're
not gonna hear about him in a false church. You're gonna hear about
something that you can do in order to earn favor with God,
but you're not gonna hear about the nail that pierced the hands
and the feet and made certain, made certain the accomplishment
of our salvation. In Judges chapter four, there's
a story about an enemy of Israel. His name is Sisera. And he's
pursuing the army of Israel led by Barak. And Sisera is famished
in his pursuit. And he finds the tent of an Israelite
woman. And he asks her for water. And
instead of water, she gives him milk. And she tells him, come
on into my tent and lie down and rest. And he falls asleep.
And she takes a nail, a tent peg is what it was, which is
what this reference to nail is here in our text. She takes a
nail while Sisera's asleep and she gets a hammer and she drives
it in one temple and out the other and pins him to the ground. No need to check his vital signs.
He's dead. And when Barak shows up, she
brings him into the tent. Barak didn't check his pulse.
He was dead. There was no question about it.
A nail had been fastened in a sure place and the enemy of Israel
was put to death. And the scripture says in the
very next verse, and Israel enjoyed peace for the rest. of their
time. There's our hope. There's our
hope. Christ is that nail that was
hammered into the very temple of our enemies and put to death
so that the enemies of God have been destroyed. Sin's been put
away. Satan's been defeated. The grave's
been conquered. Hell is no longer a threat to
God's people. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Out of Judah shall come the corner,
the only place you're going to hear about the rock that brings
forth living water, the only rock on which the church of Christ
is built is in Judah. The only place you're going to
hear about the nail that is sure and steadfast, the nail that
is placed in a sure place, fastened in a sure place, is in Judah. What I'm trying to do right now
is describe to you the difference between the idolatry of false
man-made religion and the truth of the gospel revealed in Christ
when the word of God is being preached. Christ gets all the
glory. All of our hope is in him. Notice what else is found in
Judah in verse four. Out of him came forth the corner,
out of him the nail, and out of him the battle bow. The battle bow. Turn with me to chapter nine. of Zechariah, maybe it's perhaps
on the same page there, chapter 9 and verse 10. And I will cut
off the chariots from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem
and the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace
unto the heathen and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea
and from river even to the ends of the earth. In another place,
the scripture says, I will fasten their spears into plowshares
and their swords into pruning forks. That's what I'm going
to do. They're standing in opposition
to me, and I'm going to cause them to put their weapons down.
I'm going to make them put their put their weapons down and they're
going to be. Submissive out of out of Judah
shall come the battle bow. When God shoots the arrows of
his grace into the hearts of his children, he breaks their
hearts. He causes them not to be rebels anymore. He causes
them to bow and to believe. They surrender. They surrender. The father said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he ascended back into glory, the father said to
the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, sit thou here at my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool. I'm going to take
those rebels who have in their hearts said, I will not have
this man reign over me. I'm going to cause them to say,
Lord, reign over me. Reign over me. Have your way,
Lord, in my heart. Speak peace to me. Reveal yourself
to me. They're gonna be sitting at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, just like Mary did. Choosing
that one thing that is needful for the salvation of their souls.
Out of Judah will come the corner. Out of Judah will come the nail. And out of Judah will come the
battle bow. The battle bow. The fool has said in his heart,
no, God. And the believer, the believer
has said in his heart, truth Lord, truth Lord. What would you have me to do?
Isn't that what? Saul of Tarsus refers to his conversion as a
pattern for every believer. He says, my salvation is a pattern
for every child of God. What was Saul of Tarsus doing?
He was breathing out threatenings against Christ and against his
church. He was riding his high horse
in pride and self-righteousness, believing that his works were
sufficient for his salvation. And what'd the Lord do? What'd
the Lord do? He shot the air of his grace
right through his heart. And what's the first words out
of Saul's mouth when he finds out who it is that's arrested
him? Lord, what would you have me to do? What would you have
me to do? The battle bow of God's conquering
grace comes only out of Judah. Comes only out of Judah. Micah chapter 4 verse 7 says
the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth
and evermore. The Lord shall reign over them
and they're glad he does. They're glad he does. Lord reign
over me, reign over my sin, reign over my salvation. And then notice the last part
of verse four. The Lord's telling us, the idols,
they speak emptiness. The diviners, the false prophets,
they're liars. They're not giving any men any
hope. They're speaking peace, peace to men's hearts when there
is no peace. They're giving men something
to do. And men find comfort in that. but not with God's people,
not with God's people. Out of Judah, I need a corner. I need a nail fastened in a sure
place. And I need a battle bow. I need
God to conquer me. I can't conquer myself. I need
him to give me faith. I won't believe if he doesn't.
I need him to raise my dead heart out of the grave just like he
did for Lazarus. I need him to open the eyes of
my understanding like he did for Bartimaeus. I need him to
loose my tongue that I might speak. I need him to give me
faith in order to believe. I need him to conquer me like
he did for Saul. Lord, out of Judah comes the
battle bow. In the preaching of your word, Lord, might you
be pleased to take the arrows of your grace and pierce the
hearts of your people and cause them to stand firm on that corner
and to hang all their hopes on that nail which been fastened
in a sure place. And look at the last part of
verse four. And out of him, every oppressor Every oppressor. Now that word oppressor, you
can look it up, it's the same word for taskmaster. Taskmaster. What is an oppressor? What did
the children of Israel suffer in Egypt? They had the taskmasters,
they had those slave owners demanding that they produce more. And every
time they would get close to achieving their quota, they upped
the quota. Some of you have jobs like that,
don't you? You work for a big corporation and they're always
increasing the demands for you. And what they do in Egypt, they
took away the straw. So now you had to work even harder. And that's a picture of the law.
You can never satisfy the demands of God's law. And the scripture
says here, out of Judah is every oppressor, all the taskmasters,
out of here, out of here, any message of salvation that gets
me to look to myself for any reason, for any reason that God
would save me is an oppressor. It's a taskmaster. I can never
find comfort there. I can never find hope for my
soul there. Any message of salvation that
denies the Father's electing grace is not a message of salvation
that comforts God's people. That's an oppressor. If God did
not choose me, then you're telling me that the hope of my salvation
is determined by me choosing God? I made a lot of choices
in my life, some of them good, some of them bad, some of them
sincere, some of them insincere, but if the hope of my eternal
redemption is determined by a choice that I made, I'm just not sure
that I did the right, that I made it right, that I was sincere
enough, right? Oh, oh, God chose me in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Now I can find some hope
there. Any message of salvation that denies the effectual, accomplished,
purposeful, limited, atoning work of Christ on Calvary's cross,
any message of salvation that even suggests that Christ may
have died for somebody who's not going to be saved, doesn't
give me any hope. That's an oppressor. That's an
oppressor. Out of Judah oppressors, Judah
will not tolerate someone putting them under the law. She won't do it. She won't do
it. Out of Judah goes all the oppressors. Any message of salvation that
denies the irresistible the irresistible draw of God's sovereign grace
by His Spirit. You mean to tell me that God
can issue a call and it's up to man whether or not to accept
it or reject it? That's an oppressor. That's an
oppressor. But a message that declares the
omnipotence of the Spirit of God who makes his people willing
in the day of his power and causes them to come and to believe on
Christ, there I can find hope. Out of Judah is the only place
that message is going to be heard. Any message of salvation that
denies the absolute total depravity of all the children of Adam,
their complete inability, their spiritual deadness, is not a
message of hope. That's a message of oppression.
It's a message of oppression. Now, on the other side of that coin,
it is also a message of oppression. The first heresy that came into
the New Testament church was antinomianism. It was antinomianism. The message of grace was so clear,
the message of God's sovereign, electing, accomplished, redemptive,
regenerating grace was so clear that some came to the conclusion,
some who did not have the Spirit of God came to the conclusion
Well, where grace abounds, sin must much more abound. So let's
just go on and sin all the more that we might get more grace. And the Lord addresses that issue
right on the beginning, doesn't he? And what's he say? God forbid,
God forbid. God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth he any man. But men are tempted when they're
drawn away of their own lust. And when lust is conceived, it
bringeth forth sin, and sin bringeth forth death. Here's what I'm
saying to you, brethren. In light, this oppression of
a works gospel also has an oppression on the other side. It's an oppression that says,
you're not responsible for your sin. And it doesn't really matter. It really doesn't matter. Well,
if sin doesn't matter and I'm not responsible for sin, then
I don't need a savior. I don't need a savior. You see, the truth is that God
is absolutely sovereign in salvation. And at the same time, man is
completely responsible for his sin. Say, well, how do you reconcile
that preacher? I'm not trying to reconcile it.
They're already, you don't reconcile friends. They're already friends
because they're both taught very clearly in the word of God. And
out of Judah, out of Judah comes the quarter, and out of Judah
comes the nail, and out of Judah comes the battle bow, and all
the oppression of legalism and antinomianism is cast out of
Judah so that God's people hang all their hopes on that nail
that's been fashioned in a sure place, and they stand firmly
upon that rock that God has provided. All right, let's take a break.